Horseback riding around Cusco, Machu Picchu, and more......

Hey folks! We´ve had busy few days. The first train available for Machu Picchu wasn´t until Thursday, so we spent Wednesday on a horseback trek on the "mystical tour"of some of the ruins in the mountains surrounding Cusco. Our guide was a soft spoken 16-year-old named Javier, who frequently broke into spontaneous bursts of hysteric laughter, especially at our attempts to learn Quechua, Javier´s native tongue. We spent the first part on horseback, trotting through a forest of eucalyptus trees, parked the horses for a bit to go to "zona equis" and crawl through some short caves. Apparently, a bunch of hippies went there in the 70's because of the magnetic energy of the area. It is believed that there´s a long network of trails underground, and a few college students tried to map them a few years back. They got lost and only one of them survived. Later, we rode to the ruins of the Incan "Temple of the Moon", a location beleived to have been used as an astronomical observatory and sacrifice location. We returned to our hotel room that afternoon, our groins hurting, but feeling quite refreshed.

Thursday morning we caught the 6am train to Aguas Calientes, a disgustingly overpriced tourist town outside of Machu Picchu. We took the Vistadome train, again overpriced, but it gave excellent views of the gorgeous Sacred Valley, which we rode through during the 4 hour ride to Aguas Calientes. PeruRail has monopolized the railroad industry in Peru, and Aguas Calientes is accessible only by train. Aguas Calientes is the closest place to stay to Machu Picchu, except for a hotel right beside the ruins which starts at about $700 a night. Thursday evening, we visited the town´s namesake hot springs, a series of pools filled with suspiciously murky water and lots of people. Despite the questionable hygeiene of the water, it was relaxing.

We woke up at 5 am Friday morning, with the idea of possibly hiking the steep 2 hour climb to Machu Picchu. Surprise! I wussed out and we took the bus. (Later, after a steep, sweaty climb

to Wayna Picchu and 11 hours of walking around the ruins, Xavi thanked me for my wussiness.) We arrived to a misty, cool, uncrowded Machu Picchu. Nothing I have ever heard, read, or seen compares even slightly to experiencing Machu Picchu in person. I think both of us were stunned for the first few hours, just walking around soaking it all in. We climbed first to the Hut of the Caretaker of the Funerary Rock, where the classic postcard view of Machu Picchu is. There were also quite a few friendly llamas hanging out up there, sitting, watching, and eating. From there, we trekked to the Inca Drawbridge. Up until a few years ago, it was open for visitors to walk across. Then, someone fell off and wasn´t very pleased with it.....because they died. Now it can be viewed from a distance. The Incas designed this to provide more security to the city since the path is cut off by a cliff and the only way to continue is over the drawbridge. (Side note: We would have liked to hike the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, but its closed in February for maitenance).




We feel compelled to provide a brief history about Machu Picchu for those of you who are interested: Machu Picchu is located admist gorges and mountains in a boundary region between the Andes and the Amazon. It was one of several mountaintop citadels built during the height of the Incan empire. This empire really only existed about 100 years, but spanned a huge area stretching from southern Colombia to central Chile, including also the Andean regions of Bolivia and northern Argentina. The Incas were around before that beginning in the 12th century, but until the early 15th century only occupied the Cuzco valley region. Machu Picchu is comprised of temples, palaces, shrines, plazas, streets, paths, baths, dwellings, and terraces. Machu Picchu (old mountain in Quechua) was shown to Hiram Bingham, an American explorer and history professor, by a local farmer in 1911. There are no historical sources that mention the existence of this place, therefore the names and functions assigned to its buildings adhere to Bingham and other researchers' contributions. It took a little research on our part, because its not widely published, but Machu Picchu is believed to have been contructed around the mid 15th century. We both thought it was built earlier than that. Also, there´s a bit of drama surrounding the saturation of tourists visiting M.P. daily. It seems that the ruins have become a victim of their own success. Unesco has warned the Peruvian government that the site cannot support more than 500 visitors a day without sustaining damage. (Daily estimates now are 2,500+, and that´s not even tourist season(¿gross, eh?).)

Back to our visit.....around 11:30, we started the steep climb to Wayna Picchu, the mountain directly opposite the ruins with constructions surrounded by terraces at the top, probably used as an astronomic observatory or for a religious cult. We arrived at the summit out of breath, sunburned, thirsty and waterless, as we couldn´t bring ourselves to pay $4 for more than one 300mL bottle of water at the base. The views were spectacular, and we spent a few hours just basking in the beauty of the mountains and the mysticism of our location.

After hiking back down, we hiked around the ruins for a bit longer. We found a remote area with great views and hunkered down to savor our remaining time at the ruins and to watch the sun fade over the mountains. We took the bus back down the mountain, exhausted and filthy, but renewed. That evening, we had nourishing meal at a vegetarian restaurant run by Peruvian Hare Krishnas....very interesting mix! Now we're off in search of El Bastón del Sol (aka Sonny´s walking stick........)